From CEO to NCAA football coach at 63

By Matthew Heimer

For most of us football fans, retirement will be an opportunity to spend more time watching games and second-guessing the coaches from the comfort of our couches. So let’s take a moment to raise a “We’re #1” foam finger to salute Joe Moglia, for whom “retirement” has meant jumping on to the sidelines and coaching football—and leading an NCAA team to the playoffs in his first year as its head coach. The Wall Street Journal sports columnist Matthew Futterman offers an entertaining profile of the 63-year-old “rookie” here.

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Moglia will be wielding a clipboard on Saturday when the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers face off against Old Dominion in the playoffs of the Football Championship Subdivision (the tier of teams one rung below the major-college programs like Notre Dame and Alabama). But to be fair to the rest of us, Moglia is neither the average sports fan, nor the average retiree. In a 25-year career in finance, he rose to become the chief executive of brokerage TD Ameritrade, retiring from that job in 2008 with a nine-figure net worth. That, in turn, gave him the luxury to jump into his second career by taking unpaid jobs as a consultant and intern. (Moglia encore-career lesson #1: To enjoy a fantasy career tomorrow, it helps to pile up some coin today.)

Moglia had logged many years as a high school head coach and college assistant in the 1970s and ‘80s, so he wasn’t really a football newbie. (Lesson #2: It pays to stick with something you know.) He also seems to know his limits: While many successful (and younger) football head coaches are dedicated, insomniac micromanagers, Moglia depicts a delegator who focuses on big-picture decisions and talent recruitment. “If that sounds like a CEO letting division heads do their jobs, it’s not a coincidence,” writes Futterman. (Lesson #3: Successful older professionals work smarter, not harder.)

The coach has his critics: Some sports fans have accused Moglia of buying his way into the job. But his record – 8 wins and 4 losses, going into Saturday – suggests that he knows his stuff. He’s not exactly volunteering his services, either: His contract pays him an annual salary of $175,000 a year, according to USA Today. (Fourth and final encore-career lesson: If you’re really working, get paid for it.)

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About Encore

Encore looks at the changing nature of retirement, from new rules and guidelines for financial security to the shifting identities, needs and priorities of people saving for and living in retirement. Our lead blogger is editor Matthew Heimer, and frequent contributors include editor Amy Hoak, writer Catey Hill, and MarketWatch columnists Elizabeth O’Brien, Robert Powell and Andrea Coombes. Encore also features regular commentary from The Wall Street Journal retirement columnists Glenn Ruffenach and Anne Tergesen and the Director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, Alicia H. Munnell.